InDesign Template Standard Jewelbox Eight Page Booklet document size: 9.5” x 4.719” (L->R) Panel1 Panel2 front 4.75” 4.75” back 4.75” 4.75” Hieght: 4.719” *Design must bleed 1/8” beyond trim. ACD-71290 Notes.indd 1 3/4/14 8:50 PM ACD-71290 GEORGE Gershwin (1898-1937) MUSIC FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO Suite from Girl Crazy (1930), arranged by Eric Stern (b. 1952) (2012) WORLD PREMIER RECORDING 1. “But Not for Me” [2:37] 2. “Bidin’ My Time” [3:22] 3. “Embraceable You” [1:54] 4. “I Got Rhythm” [2:09] Three Preludes for Piano (1926), transcribed by Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) 5. I. [Allegro ben ritmato e deciso] (1940) [1:51] 6. II. Andante con moto e poco rubato (1944) [3:29] 7. III. Allegro ben ritmato e deciso (1942) [1:39] Short Story (1925), arranged by Samuel Dushkin (1891-1976) 8. Andantino con fantasia; Allegretto scherzando [2:37] An American in Paris (Excerpts) (1928), WORLD PREMIER RECORDING transcribed by Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987), completed from the original sketches by Ayke Agus (b. 1949) (2000) 9. Allegretto grazioso; Tempo Blues, Andante, ma con ritmo deciso; Allegro (con anima) [5:09] “Love Walked In” (1938) [from The Goldwyn Follies], arranged by Eric Stern (b. 1952) (2012) WORLD PREMIER RECORDING 10. Freely; Meno Mosso e Rubato [3:50] “Nice Work If You Can Get It” (1937) [from A Damsel in Distress], arranged by Eric Stern (b. 1952) (2012) WORLD PREMIER RECORDING 11. With a Bouncy Swing [2:15] Selections from Porgy and Bess (1935) transcribed by Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) (1944) 12. “Summertime” and “A Woman Is a Sometime Thing” [3:59] 13. “My Man’s Gone Now” [3:52] 14. “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” [4:40] 15. “It Ain’t Necessarily So” [2:41] 16. “Tempo di Blues” (based on “Picnics Is Alright” and “There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York”) [3:09] Total Playing Time: 49:13 OPUSTWO WILLIAM TERWILLIGER, VIOLIN | ANDREW COOPERSTOCK, PIANO WITH GUEST ARTIST ASHLEY BROWN, SOPRANO ACD-71290 Notes.indd 2 3/4/14 8:50 PM Girl Crazy (1930) is one of the very few Broadway musicals of the pre-World War II period that has had anything which we recognize as his, as well as the work’s improvisational fl air, is clear for all to hear. It is also worth noting that resembling a shelf life of more than a year, a fact surely helped by its several hit songs. Most famous of course is “I Got by using the term “prelude,” tradition-conscious Gershwin was summoning the ghosts of past classics of the same Rhythm,” but the others included in Eric Stern’s medley here are “Bidin’ My Time,” “Embraceable You,” and “But Not name, composed by Bach, Chopin, and Debussy, among others. Although short character pieces, these preludes are for Me.” Girl Crazy also showcased an unusual complement of young talent on stage. It marked the second Broadway imminently challenging, and they exude a classical polish as well as a reminder that Gershwin grew up in an era of appearance and rise to stardom of Ginger Rogers. But even more famously, it was the debut show for a 21-year-old virtuosos, dominated by many classical lions at the keyboard—names like Paderewski, Josef Hofmann, and belter, Ethel Agnes Zimmerman, Rachmaninoff. better known as Ethel Merman, GEORGE Gershwin whose fi rst performance of Although everyone knows that George Gershwin bonded with the piano at an early age—and he surely knew fi ddle “I Got Rhythm” is legend. The music of both the classical and popular variety—Short Story is pretty much all he wrote for violin and piano together. MUSIC FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO pit band, as well, included an The work came about because a young virtuoso violinist friend of the composer named Samuel Dushkin—the man for array of players on the verge of substantial careers: Red Nichols, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, whom Stravinsky wrote his violin concerto—requested a recital piece from Gershwin in late 1924. While 1924 had been Charlie and Jack Teagarden, and Glenn Miller. Robert Russell Bennett is credited with the band’s arrangements. The a triumphant year for Gershwin (with the heady premiere of Rhapsody in Blue and the wonderfully successful launch future Hollywood composer Roger Edens was the band pianist, although Gershwin was famous for dropping in to of Lady Be Good!), he was still learning his craft. Studying hard in order to orchestrate larger pieces and explore the rehearsals from time to time. With this combination of creative talent to present them to the public, is it any wonder that palette of colors available on instruments other than keyboards, he was eager to take the opportunity to collaborate and the songs from this show still seem so fresh and timely! to pick Dushkin’s brain. Together the two young men rapidly put Short Story down on paper, beginning with two short piano pieces that Gershwin pulled out of his trunk, a slow one and a fast one that had been written a couple of years Gershwin piano solos have always been popular with the public. The Three Piano Preludes (1926), transcribed by Jascha before but not yet published. The fi rst melody to catch Dushkin’s eye was a languid, bluesy, glissando-fi lled thing, which Heifetz for violin and piano early on, are still well known and are frequently recorded and programmed to this day. They is used twice in Short Story, followed by a transition to a faster, lighthearted, syncopated tune, which has the feel of an neatly summarize why Gershwin’s music has retained such wide appeal. The popular, jazz-fl avored musicallanguage, old-fashioned ragtime or cakewalk. Part of the opening passage is brought back to conclude this three-minute 2 3 ACD-71290 Notes.indd 3 3/4/14 8:50 PM experiment. Though Dushkin and Gershwin premiered Short Story in 1925, and Dushkin programmed it often and Most critics agree that, as wonderful as Gershwin’s longer works are, it is his individual songs, all written in collaboration recorded it in 1928, it never really caught on with audiences, despite its charms. with his brother, that represent the pinnacle of his achievement overall. And although genius in art is never reducible to mere structural detail, one can note a few elements that almost invariably characterize a great Gershwin song: the An American in Paris (1928) is probably the most overtly confessional, biographical piece for orchestra that Gershwin basic AABA structure in typical pop song format, with special attention given to the harmony; the particular chord ever wrote. As he himself told the story, he began with the title alone, remembering a short trip he had made to France changes in the B section (usually referred to as the bridge or release); at least one catchy rhythm or series of beats that in 1926. While he claimed that the piece was not strictly programmatic, he and others were quick to supply a story line grabs a listener’s attention and gets repeated several times; a tune that you can’t shake out of your head; and one final anyway. Gershwin proceeded to develop the work with a bit of plot only after he imagined himself, he says, away from surprising event—either an extended melody or a verbal turnaround—which arrives like the perfect dessert after a New York City—as he often was during tours—feeling homesick for his native town, then singing the “blues” to himself. wonderful meal. The two arrangements here by Eric Stern, “Love Walked In” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” are fitting But then he decides—warming to this imaginary excursion—once in Paris, to do as the Parisians do: saunter down the illustrations of this Gershwin phenomenon. Champs Élysées, stroll into a cafe, drink wine, flirt with the natives, drink more wine, check out the sights and sounds on the boulevard, delight in the can-can, and so forth. You get the idea. Along with its bounce and swing, this music is In addition to the works mentioned earlier, Heifetz also arranged selections from Porgy and Bess (1935) for violin and cleverly multi-layered. Rhythms and harmonies are inventively combined, as Gershwin constantly restates and overlaps piano, and it is easy to understand why he—and Opus Two—were drawn to the powerful melodies that pervade the a handful of winsome melodies. The so-called “walking themes” (for the tourist strolling along) are neatly woven with opera. The novel Porgy, published in 1925, and written by the Charleston, South Carolina, author DuBose Heyward, the rest, each a gem of tunefulness. The New York Philharmonic introduced the orchestral premiere of An American in was the immediate inspiration for Gershwin’s operatic masterpiece. But as we can tell from his early songs and an Paris in December 1928 in Carnegie Hall. Jascha Heifetz was in the audience, by the way, taking notes. It was only in obscure one-act blues opera of 1922 called Blue Monday, Gershwin’s curiosity and commitment to black idioms is 2000, though, that violinist and Heifetz protégé Ayke Agus completed Heifetz’s original sketches and transcriptions to even older than Porgy. When Gershwin first communicated with Heyward about setting the novel to music, the author make the version Opus Two has used on this premiere recording. put him off, since Dorothy Heyward, DuBose’s wife, planned to write a musical play of her own based on the book.